Members of the Baltimore-based Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort said they will leave early Saturday for earthquake-stricken Haiti, three days ahead of schedule.More Coverage: Haiti Earthquake SectionLive Wire: Haiti UpdatesSlideshow | Interactive Guide To Earthquakes U.S. State Dept. 888-407-4747 Lt. Cmdr. Heidi Lenzini of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said Thursday that the floating hospital will be on an open-ended humanitarian mission.The Comfort's primary mission is to provide a mobile and rapid-responsive medical facility to support amphibious military forces around the world. Its second mission is providing humanitarian aid. The Comfort is capable of providing full hospital services for nations in need of relief.
The activation means that more than 600 medical personnel from Bethesda Naval Hospital, as well as 60 to 70 civil service mariners, are due to report to the ship. The civil service mariners navigate and maintain the ship.The Comfort is kept in a reduced operative state while docked at the Port of Baltimore. The Navy's Military Sealift Command said it takes five days to get it in order to ship out, but crews have been working around the clock and they expect to leave by Saturday morning."I think we're up for the task, and I think with the experiences we've had in the past, we feel we're one of the best -- if not the best -- teams to go down to help those individuals," said USNS Comfort Capt. James Ware.The ship can handle up to 1,000 patients. A 250-bed hospital is currently being set up on the ship, which will be equipped with four operating rooms, eight to 15 ICUs, as well as CAT scanners and other state-of-the-art equipment."It's overwhelming. You never get used to this. I've been on a lot of missions, and it's hard to sit here seeing what's going on, and we're not there yet," said Chief Nurse Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Olivero. The ship also includes intensive care and recovery wards, as well as light and limited care wards.The ship will be anchored off Haiti's shore and patients will have to be flown in by helicopter, crews said.Sailors said the Comfort can also make drinking water from sea water. The ship can pump out 300,000 gallons of water per day thanks to its four distilling plants.Commanders said that would be one of its biggest missions, as it's reported that drinking water is in extreme demand in the hardest-hit areas.The Comfort visited Haiti in April as part of a four-month mission to the Caribbean and Latin America. It also responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.Comfort Chief Petty Officer Matthew Zimmerman was on the last planned trip to Haiti. He said this mission will be something he and his shipmates have likely never seen before."The passageways are going to be filled with people. The overhead system will be busy paging doctors and nurses. The ORs will probably be running day and night. It's going to be a busy hospital," he said.The ship is expected to arrive in Haitian waters by Jan. 21, but the captain said he hopes to be there a day or two before that.

BALTIMORE —

Members of the Baltimore-based Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort said they will leave early Saturday for earthquake-stricken Haiti, three days ahead of schedule.

Lt. Cmdr. Heidi Lenzini of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami said Thursday that the floating hospital will be on an open-ended humanitarian mission.

The Comfort's primary mission is to provide a mobile and rapid-responsive medical facility to support amphibious military forces around the world. Its second mission is providing humanitarian aid. The Comfort is capable of providing full hospital services for nations in need of relief.

The activation means that more than 600 medical personnel from Bethesda Naval Hospital, as well as 60 to 70 civil service mariners, are due to report to the ship. The civil service mariners navigate and maintain the ship.

The Comfort is kept in a reduced operative state while docked at the Port of Baltimore. The Navy's Military Sealift Command said it takes five days to get it in order to ship out, but crews have been working around the clock and they expect to leave by Saturday morning.

"I think we're up for the task, and I think with the experiences we've had in the past, we feel we're one of the best -- if not the best -- teams to go down to help those individuals," said USNS Comfort Capt. James Ware.

The ship can handle up to 1,000 patients. A 250-bed hospital is currently being set up on the ship, which will be equipped with four operating rooms, eight to 15 ICUs, as well as CAT scanners and other state-of-the-art equipment.

"It's overwhelming. You never get used to this. I've been on a lot of missions, and it's hard to sit here seeing what's going on, and we're not there yet," said Chief Nurse Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Olivero.

The ship also includes intensive care and recovery wards, as well as light and limited care wards.

The ship will be anchored off Haiti's shore and patients will have to be flown in by helicopter, crews said.

Sailors said the Comfort can also make drinking water from sea water. The ship can pump out 300,000 gallons of water per day thanks to its four distilling plants.

Commanders said that would be one of its biggest missions, as it's reported that drinking water is in extreme demand in the hardest-hit areas.

The Comfort visited Haiti in April as part of a four-month mission to the Caribbean and Latin America. It also responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and to hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.

Comfort Chief Petty Officer Matthew Zimmerman was on the last planned trip to Haiti. He said this mission will be something he and his shipmates have likely never seen before.

"The passageways are going to be filled with people. The overhead system will be busy paging doctors and nurses. The ORs will probably be running day and night. It's going to be a busy hospital," he said.

The ship is expected to arrive in Haitian waters by Jan. 21, but the captain said he hopes to be there a day or two before that.